DCS 2018 Highlights Defense, Cyber Security (Video)

Today’s high-tech world is reinventing warfare with the most advanced tools for soldiers and others in the defense and security landscape. The onset of new technologies is also advancing the environmental, cyber and health care segments. SPIE Defense + Commercial Sensing (DCS) puts such advancement at center stage. To be held this year at the Gaylord Palms Resort & Convention Center in Orlando, Fla., April 15-19, this global conference and exhibition presents leading technical conferences, courses and demonstrations on sensors, optics, imaging, lasers and related areas for defense, security, industry, health care and the environment. And the latest technical advancements are presented in sensors, infrared technology, laser systems, spectral imaging, radar, lidar and more.

DCS is divided into two technical programs, encompassing a myriad of technologies and applications — Defense + Security, which focuses specifically on sensors, imaging and optical technologies for security, law enforcement, avionics and aerospace, and defense and military applications; and Commercial + Scientific Sensing and Imaging, which deals with sensors, imaging and image processing for agriculture, manufacturing, health care, pharmaceutical, transportation, information systems and environmental applications.

Special events include the Rising Researchers program. It’s a series that recognizes “early career professionals who are conducting outstanding work in product development or research in the defense, commercial and scientific sensing, imaging, optics or related fields,” according to SPIE. Those chosen for 2018 are Amit Agrawal, National Institute of Standards and Technology (Nanotechnology); Michael Buric, National Energy Technology Lab (Industrial Sensing and Measurement); Pai-Yen Chen, Wayne State University (Nanotechnology); Amber Dagel, Sandia National Laboratories (Defense and Security); Shuowen Hu, U.S. Army Research Laboratory (Electronic Imaging and Signal Processing); Chengwei Qiu, National University of Singapore (Optical Design and Engineering); Matthew Reichert, Princeton University (Industrial Sensing and Measurement); Russell Shirey, U.S. Air Force (Defense and Security); Mark Spencer, U.S. Air Force Research Lab (Defense and Security); and Alina Zare, University of Florida (Electronic Imaging and Signal Processing).

Special plenary talks will tackle history and innovation with sessions including Reflections of a Century and Projections for the Future with Morley O. Stone, CTO at the U.S. Air Force Research Lab. Innovation for a Secure Future will be led by Ray O. Johnson, executive in residence for Bessemer Venture Partners and former senior VP and CTO of Lockheed Martin; and Directed Energy will feature Henry A. “Trey” Obering III, executive VP and Directed Energy Innovation Services officer at Booz Allen Hamilton in Virginia.

Industry events show attendees (from engineers and researchers to CEOs) the business side of defense and commercial sensing with vendor sessions. Specific sessions will be presented by companies including Ophir Optronics Ltd., FLIR Systems, 4D Technology Corp., Reynard Corp. and StingRay Optics, among others. They will focus on areas such as InGaAs with Lin/log response, folded optics in zoom lenses, and MWIR fiber combiners for multispectral sensing. Andres E. Rozlosnik of SI Termografía Infrarroja in Argentina, and Sheng-Jen Hsieh of Texas A&M University will serve as session chairs.

A number of companies will take the industry stage throughout the conference, as well, presenting speakers and panel discussions. Among featured speakers are Jason Eichenholz, co-founder of Luminar, who will speak on lighting the path toward autonomous mobility; and FLIR Systems’ Austin Richards, who will discuss high-speed thermal imaging. Joseph X. Montemarano, executive director of MIRTHE at Princeton University, will moderate a panel of experts from industry, academia, government labs and venture capital sectors in a talk about advances in mid-infrared technologies and applications.

Three topical tracks cover a gamut of emerging technologies, applications and ground-breaking research in agriculture, unmanned autonomous systems (UAS), cyber-physical systems and the Internet of Things. Within each are focused paper presentations, courses, special events and exhibitors.

The agriculture track explores potential applications for sensing and imaging technologies including unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), hyperspectral imaging, phenotyping and infrared thermography. Sensing and imaging are the focus of the UAS track. This offers the latest technologies, research and applications for enhancing air, ground and underwater UAS such as LiDAR, infrared, multispectral and hyperspectral imaging. The third track deals with cyber-physical systems and the Internet of Things (IoT). Here, experts will discuss the latest advancements in sensors, sensor fusion, big data, deep learning, cyber security and other related technologies and research.

Education is a key component at DCS, as 34 half- and full-day courses present approaches in areas such as lasers, sensors and IR systems. There are numerous new and featured courses in 2018. Among them, Introduction to Lidar for Autonomous Vehicles; Imaging Spectrometry; Fundamentals of Infrared Sensing; Atmospheric Lidar Principles and Applications; Imaging with Sensor Arrays; and Infrared Imaging Technology Basics.

There will also be two-hour snapshot courses for those in non-technical positions.

The DCS 2018 exhibition will bring together about four hundred companies from around the world. Product demonstrations put various technologies into focus — IR sources and detectors, optical components such as specialized lenses and coatings, chemical and biological sensing systems, lidar, robotics, law enforcement technology, and fiber sensors, among others. And a special demonstration by Luminar will feature the company’s lidar perception capabilities to enable the autonomous future.

An acronym of light detection and ranging, describing systems that use a light beam in place of conventional microwave beams for atmospheric monitoring, tracking and detection functions. Ladar, an acronym of laser detection and ranging, uses laser light for detection of speed, altitude, direction and range; it is often called laser radar.